8 The First Half

Chapter 8 The First Half It was time for the coin toss to decide which team would kick off. Me and Ryan are captains of the Moose, so we ran out to the middle of the field. So did two of the Sharks. The ref told us to shake hands. One of the Sharks grabbed my hand. He didn't just shake it like a normal person. He started squeezing. So I squeezed back. And he squeezed harder. And it really hurt! I thought I was gonna die. But just before my fingers were crushed, the Shark let go. "Grrrrrr!" he said. "I eat shrimps like you for breakfast."

"So is your face," I replied, because I couldn't think of anything else to say. The ref tossed the coin up and I called heads. "Tails!" yelled the ref. Bummer in the summer! We had to kick off. Our team got into position. Ryan put the ball on the tee. All the grown-ups in the

bleachers started cheering. The ref blew his whistle, and Ryan kicked off. It was a pretty good kick, too. We all ran down the field to tackle the Shark who picked up the ball. The only problem was, there were giant Sharks running all over the place! One of them knocked Michael on his butt. One of them knocked Ryan on his butt. One of them knocked me on my butt. They were knocking all of us on our butts! "Run for your life!" Neil shouted.

When I looked up from the ground, the Sharks were in the end zone dancing and high-fiving each other. Sharks 6, Moose 0. "That's all right! That's okay! We're gonna win it anyway! Go… Moose!" The Sharks made the extra point and kicked off to us. Michael picked up the ball.

But before he could take a step, he was knocked on his butt by some giant Shark. Michael fumbled the ball, and the next thing we knew, the Sharks were dancing and high-fiving each other again in the end zone. Sharks 13, Moose 0. "That's all right! That's okay! We're gonna win next Saturday! Go… Moose!" You don't need to hear all the gory details of what happened in the first half. But whenever the Sharks had the ball, they ran right over us like we were made out of tissue paper and knocked us on our butts. Whenever we had the ball, they knocked us on our butts and took the ball away. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"It's okay that we're not great, At least we all participate! Go… Moose!" What a lame cheer. Andrea and her friends were no help at all. The cheerleaders weren't looking very cheery. Wyatt was useless. All he ever did was stand around and pick his nose. And having Rufus the Doofus floating over the field wasn't doing us any good either. Finally, the clock ran out. It was halftime. We had played two quarters, but it felt like a million. Our team was staggering all over the field. I was still on my hands and knees in the dirt after the last Shark touchdown. "Hey, loser!" one of the Sharks said to me